ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine’s hard-working hockey team did what it needed to do against the sixth-ranked Quinnipiac University Bobcats, swarming the puck and limiting the high-scoring visitors to few Grade-A scoring chances.
Quinnipiac, which has reached the NCAA Tournament the last seven seasons, scored 16 goals in its first two games.
But the Bobcats proved that they can also win a low-scoring affair even when they are getting significantly outshot.
Sophomore right wing Ethan Wyttenbach, the 2025-26 Tim Taylor National Rookie of the Year, scored one goal and assisted on Mason Marcellus’ goal as the Bobcats triumphed 2-1 in UMaine’s home opener Friday night.
Quinnipiac, now 3-0, received 33 saves from freshman Christian Kirsch while 1-2 UMaine got 20 stops from Albin Boija.
UMaine outshot Quinnipiac 35-23 and had a decided edge in offensive zone time.
The teams will play again Saturday night at 7.
Despite carrying the play in the first period and outshooting Quinnipiac 18-5, the opportunistic Bobcats took a 2-1 lead into the intermission.
UMaine’s Lee Parks’ power play goal opened the scoring just 2:39 into the game but the Bobcats’ Marcellus equalized just 2:11 later and Wyttenbach broke the tie at the 10:22 mark.
UMass Lowell transfer Parks scored his second goal in as many games as he found himself at the far post to the right of Kirsch and Will Gerrior made a perfect cross-ice feed and he one-timed a short wrist shot into the short side corner.
Senior left wing Marellus tied it when he worked a nifty give-and-go with Wyttenbach, who was positioned behind the net.
His low wrister from the middle of the slot off Wyttenbach’s pass beat Boija to the goalie’s right side. It was his third of the season.
UMaine’s Max Scott had broken his stick and gone to the bench for another one.
Midway through the period, freshman defenseman Jan Golicic found Wyttenbach alone behind the Black Bear defense and he broke in on Boija before making a few clever moves and roofing a backhander.
Wyttenbach’s goal was his third.
“Our defense fell asleep,” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr. “Against a team like Quinnipiac, if you make a mistake, they make you pay.”
The scoreless second period was more evenly played and the Black Bears had the best chance of the period when left wing and Alaska-Anchorage transfer Judah Makway was able to free himself from a Bobcat and break in alone.
He pulled the puck to his backhand but missed the net.
Quinnipiac outshot UMaine 9-6.
UMaine had a golden opportunity to tie the game in the third period when they had a five-on-three for 54 seconds.
But the Black Bears never generated a high-quality chance in the five-on-three or the ensuing five-on-four.
They did generate an even-strengh three-shot flurry during a scramble but Kirsch made saves off Lukas Peterson, Tanner Klimpke and Sam Alfano and one of the shots squeezed through his pads but rolled just wide of the far post.
Just after the Bobcats failed to sew up the win after UMaine pulled Boija in favor of the extra attacker by missing a pair of wide-open nets, they were assessed a penalty with 22 seconds left.
But UMaine failed to take advantage on the six-on-four after pulling Boija again.
“The guys played hard. They scored one more than we did,” said Barr. “You can’t fault the effort. It was similar to last Saturday night (in a 3-2 overtime loss to Holy Cross). We obviously had chances. We had the five-on-three in the third but we just couldn’t capitalize.
”That’s going to be the challenge for our guys this year. Can we keep staying on it and eventually find a little bit of a break as far as putting the puck into the net,” added Barr.
One of the major issues was faceoffs as the Black Bears won only 36.9 percent of the faceoffs and that prevented them from gaining offensive zone possession, especially with the man-advantage.
“They were the best face-off team in the nation last year and I think they probably are again this year,” said Barr. “When you start chasing the puck a lot, that makes it hard. We’ve got to be better there.”
Scott won 10 of his 17 faceoffs but the rest of the team won just 14 of 48.
UMaine graduate student left wing and captain Owen Fowler said the team played a good 55-minute game.
“Those five minutes, we had a mental lapse,” said Fowler. “And that’s a team that’s really good over there and they execute on their chances.”
Fowler said when it comes to producing goals, “we definitely have to bear down around the net. That’s the biggest focus right now. Overall, we can take a lot of good from this game. That’s one of the best teams in the country right now and for most of that game, we had them in the cave. It’s that little bit (more) we need from each guy and when we connect on that, it definitely will help us.”